Description: This publication is published in two parts: a Summary Report highlighting the principles and recommendations most pertinent at concept design stage, and the Full Report with more detailed guidance. The Full Report sets out to update CIRIA Guide 5 (now out of print) and gives guidance on water and vapour protection of new and existing basements.

It distinguishes between guidance appropriate to deep (commercial) and shallow (residential and non-residential) basements; includes advice relevant to forms of deep basement construction such as diaphragm and secant walls, contiguous bored piles and shallow basements of concrete, masonry or steel sheet piling; provides illustrative examples of construction types; and takes account of the control of dampness by appropriate ventilation and heating. The report concentrates on the parameters of water-resisting design, giving generalised solutions as examples, and emphasises that the water-resisting performance of a basement construction is only one contribution to the control of the basement environment.

Keywords: building technology, flooding